


adjusting

by BullRun



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Cat, Families of Choice, Family Fluff, Fluff, Frisk has a large loving happy monster family, Gen, Light Swearing, POV Second Person, Papyrus is popular online, Post-Pacifist Route, Post-True Route, i love these skeletons, im not a flowey apologist i just think he's neat, pap gets a cat, they're too precious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-03 23:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5310362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BullRun/pseuds/BullRun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has to adjust to living on the surface.<br/>This is mostly assorted stress relieving drabbles in the same timeline and is probably going to be pure fluff fyi</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Papyrus is a Youtube Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This will be mostly assorted stress relieving drabbles and is probably going to be pure fluff fyi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frisk is not a morning person.

You teetered into the skeleton brothers’ kitchen and collapsed at the table, head hitting the wood with far more force than Toriel would have approved of. You closed your eyes exhaustedly. The skeleton brother’s couch was comfortable when you slept over, but you always made a point to wake up before Papyrus.

You are not a morning person. Before your adventure, you were hardly even an afternoon person, but being surrounded by people who loved to rise and fall with the sun changed that. Especially when a good portion of their speaking voices started at ‘yelling’ and just went up in volume from there, encouraging sleepy children to roll out of bed before loud monsters burst into their room and start shouting.

You couldn’t fault any of them for their enthusiasm, but sometimes they were just _loud,_ especially when you just wanted to sleep. That first night on the surface, the first time the monsters saw the sun set, you was trying to fall asleep for the first time in a while. (Was it Asgore’s castle in this run? Maybe this was one of the times that you hung out in Snowdin for longer than usual and slept on the skeleton’s couch. Maybe you hadn’t slept since the Ruins, curled up for a nap in a bed that was not your own, but could have been, and waking up to pie.) You were curled up next to Toriel and had shut your eyes when Papyrus and Undyne tried to top each other in announcing their concern. (“THE SUN IS DYING!!!” “IS THIS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN???” “HOW LONG WILL THE SUN BE GONE?”)

Needless to say, you had ended up a sleep cycle that had you out of bed at the inhuman hour of-

You turned your head, opening one eye a fraction to glare at the microwave.

8:30.

Maybe you could do something with SAVE to help you wake up? Secretly, you wondered whether or not your alertness would carry over through reloads or if you would just be setting yourself up to relive your tiredness over and over. You groaned. It was too early to mess with the timestream.

The soft patter of slippered feet could be heard approaching the kitchen. You closed your eyes briefly. A chubby skeleton was sitting at the table with his feet up when you opened your eyes. He had a newspaper in one hand and a half eaten donut in the other.

Wordlessly, you held out your hand, not even attempting to raise your head from the table. Sans chuckled and put the donut half into your outstretched hand. When you glanced back at him, he somehow had another donut, this one untouched, in his boney fingers. His grin was even wider and he winked at you conspiratorily.

Unfazed, you chomped away at the bite riddled pastry, determined to eat breakfast without lifting your head from the table. Papyrus would have had a fit at all the crumbs.

Finishing your breakfast, you watched Sans out of one half closed eye. His glowing pupils zipped around his sockets, speed reading the newspaper and scanning for anything worth reading aloud to you.

“Did I ever sleep at your house?” you mumbled. Sans raised an eyebrow, not taking his eyes off the newspaper.

“you slept at my house last night.”

You shook your head tiredly. “No no, like, back at your underground house. Under the mountain.”

Sans set down his paper, watching you with careful eyes. You tried not to remember what those eyes looked like when you were trying to murder each other. You wonder if his nightmares were the same. You’d bet your lucky sweater that yours were worse. (At least he got to be himself when he was killing you/getting killed.)

“...do you not remember?” he asked, almost as quiet as you. You give a tiny apologetic shrug, your face starting to flush with embarrassment. Just because Sans understood about all this RESET business doesn’t mean he’s as comfortable about it as you.

“Sometimes I hang around Snowdin, sometimes I don’t. Look, it's not a big deal, forget it.”

Sans stares at you for a few minutes longer before picking up his paper again.

“you didn’t this time.”

You both sit in slightly awkward silence for a few more minutes. Apologies, excuses, and questions threaten to pour out of your mouth. You notice that Sans is reading the same section of the paper over and over, refusing to meet your eye. You sigh.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up. I was trying to remember how long it had been since I slept, that first night on the surface.”

His eyes finally leave the paper and look over at you. He looks… tired.

“its fine, kid.” he says evenly.

You let out an explosive groan. He jumps, the lights in his eyes narrowing just a little. You attempt to school your expression into an appropriately “sad puppy dog” face.

“I’m sorry for ruining your morning.” His grin get a little softer and a little more real. He reaches over and tousles your hair. You let him, partially because of tiredness.

“nah, kiddo, you’re fine. don’t worry about it. SAVE your breath.”

You let out an interesting combo of a groan and a giggle as Sans punctuates his awful pun with a wink. You could never decide if you enjoyed Sans’s puns or not. Honestly, if you had to listen to them as often as Papyrus did, you think you’d find them a lot less funny.

You close your eyes again, head still on the table. The silence is more amiable and you listen to the sound of Sans turning the newspaper. After a minute or two, the sound stops, but you’re still too sleepy to open your eyes to check if Sans has teleported away or not.

You’re considering whether or not to SAVE right now. You’ve talked with Sans about living on the surface and never RESETTING again, and while you’d defended your right to RELOAD, especially for important monster-human relations things, he’d convinced you that living with small ‘mistakes,’ like an awkward conversation with one of your best friends, was important. Your micromanaging that first day had pissed him off, and he wanted you to live as normal a life as you could.

He’d also had a great speech about the unintended consequences of trying to fix a timeline to be perfect, but most of his reasoning had gone right over your head. Sometimes your first hand experience and his science didn’t translate cleanly to each other. Other times the fact that you weren’t even in high school yet limited your ability to follow his logic.

You were jerked out of your ruminations by the sound of clattering footsteps. The sound a skeleton’s bare feet made on non carpeted flooring was very distinctive and since you’d already seen that Sans had his slippers on…

Papyrus burst into the kitchen, laptop clasped in his hands, just as you opened your eyes. His face was brimming with excitement as he caught sight of you. His nightwear was a set of orange pajamas covered in a skull and crossbones design. The person who had gotten them for him had either underestimated his height or understood his love of crop tops.

Covertly, you tried to swipe your donut crumbs onto the floor. You noticed Papyrus’s eyes narrow a bit, but he didn’t say anything. He was far more observant than he let on, but he was obviously more preoccupied with something else at the moment.

“GOOD MORNING, HUMAN!” he greeted excitedly. He practically danced in place, holding the laptop like it was a signed picture of Mettaton. “YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME ONLINE!!”

“Did that troll stop bothering you?” Papyrus stopped moving, his eyebrows seemingly shooting downward.

“NO. THEY’RE STILL PESTERING MY ONLINE PERSONA.” He struck a pose, his hand resting against his chest heroically. “BUT DO NOT WORRY, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MUST SOMETIMES DEAL WITH THOSE THAT ARE JEALOUS OF MY GREATNESS.”

He launched forward into a chair and set the laptop between you both. The browser seemed to be open to a Youtube channel.

“MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HAS FINALLY BECOME POPULAR!” Your eyebrow raised. Youtube channel? How long had that been going on?

“I didn’t know you have a Youtube channel, Paps.” He somehow puffed out his chest even more.

“I STARTED IT WHEN WE LEFT THE UNDERGROUND. I’VE BEEN DOCUMENTING MY EXPERIENCES ON THE SURFACE.” He leaned in conspiratorially and he lowered his voice to approximately stage whisper levels. “I THOUGHT THAT THE HUMANS WOULD ENJOY A MONSTER’S PERSPECTIVE.”  

You chuckled, low in your throat. As the ambassador, you should be concerned about the content and impact of videos directed to humans from monsters, but you trusted Papyrus. You trusted that anything he would be putting online would be in good taste. Maybe some cute videos from a sweet monster would be good for human-monster relations.

“I’m sure that people love your videos. Do you want to show me some?”

Papyrus smiled even wider and turned to the laptop. The screen showed more videos than you were initially expecting. He quickly selected a recent video and fullscreened it. You settled in for whatever he was going to show you.

Onscreen, the view wobbled for a moment, as if the person operating the camera had fumbled and forgotten to edit it out, obscuring the picture into a blur of white and orange. Eventually, the movement stopped and the camera focused on a rather low angle of Papyrus’s grinning face. The awful lighting and the angle made every bare angle of his bones stand out gruesomely. He started speaking (loudly) a moment before the picture clarified completely.

“TODAY SOMEBODY ASKED ME FOR HELP WITH REMEMBERING THE MONSTER DOGS’ NAMES. ITS SIMPLE!!”

The camera flipped around wildly before settling on a happy, corgi-faced monster in full armor. They panted cheerfully, obviously delighted to be included. Papyrus’s voice continued, booming.

“THERE’S LESSER DOG-”

The view shifted to the right, revealing a huge pomeranian-faced monster in heavy battle armor. They gave an adorable yip that seemed disproportionate to their mass.

“GREATER DOG-”

A little more to the left, and a horrifying mass of darkness was revealed. It undulated and shimmed unnaturally, its lower limbs occasionally revealing the silhouette of a dog or two in the negative space. Its orifice opened, dribbling hissing fluid onto the ground. It made an organic grinding noise that would surely be in everyone’s nightmares for weeks.

“ _BEST_ DOG-”

The camera panned a little more and revealed an anthromorphic dog monster wearing tight pants.

“AND DOGGO.”

The camera shook wildly as it was flipped around, unsteady in gloved hands. The view settled back on Papyrus’s smiling face.

“SEE? SIMPLE!!”

The video cut off there, a half a second longer than it needed to be, either on purpose or because the record button had been bumped clumsily.

You grinned and selected another video.

The next video was much shorter. It was a short montage of normal human things (the sky, a pigeon, a jogger, etc.) with Papyrus’s voice saying “nice” in response to everything, growing more enthusiastic with each passing clip.

It was adorable and funny.

It was so Papyrus.

You laughed and reached over, pulling Papyrus into a bony hug. His enthusiasm was amazing and you loved him. His teeth pressed into the top of your head in a skeleton kiss. Your cheek pressed into his ribs. You pulled out of the hug early, giving him a soft smile in answer to his questioning expression.

“Sans! We’re hugging! Come join the hug!” you shouted.

Between one blink and another, Sans appeared in the kitchen doorway.

“sup?”

You gestured to Papyrus and then to yourself.

“Hug. Get over here.” Sans smiled and sauntered over.

“if you insist,” he said cheekily. You pulled Sans into a hug, half standing out of your chair and wrapping your arms around his ribs. Immediately, you felt Papyrus’s arms envelop you both. Group hugs are your favorite part of being around your best friends.

“Love you guys.” you whispered into Sans’s shoulder.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These sweethearts are too precious for words


	2. Inhuman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're not human, but sometimes you forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank all of you for the positive response last chapter received. I sincerely appreciate it <3  
> Here's a short little thing that I wrote to blow off stress between finals.

Sometimes you forget that they’re monsters.

Not on purpose, of course, but no human alive had seem monsters for hundreds of years. It would have be normal to assume that any sentient person that you encountered was implicitly human.

Sometimes you can almost convince yourself that they’re just weird humans or people in costumes or acting weird to mess with you.

It's a difficult concept to explain to other humans. (It’s even more difficult to explain to other monsters.) The monsters, they’re _people_ but they’re not _human_ , and it's only really obvious once you really get to know them.

 

You’re reminded every time you meet up with Asgore after a particularly awful meeting with human representatives. They were particularly stubborn and hateful and shortsighted. Their fear and infighting make you want to tear your hair out and scream. Asgore doesn’t scream or ramble angrily like you. He’s quiet, almost deceptively so, and a stranger might think him calm. He’s mad, he’s _furious_ , if he were human he would be pacing around the room and throwing things. He’s trying not to scare you, because you are very small and he cares very much about you,

( _You tell ASGORE that he's killed you too many times to count. He nods pitifully._ )

but you can tell in the set of his shoulders and how his head is tilted that he wants to _charge_ and with his mass and strength he reminds you more of a bull than a goat. You’re supremely grateful that the other humans don’t see him stomping his foot and twitching his stubby tail angrily.

Other people shouldn’t see this. They wouldn’t understand. This kind of rage doesn’t humanize him, it just makes his monstrosity more apparent.

Asgore is too large and powerful to be seen as anything but gentle and kind.

 

You’re reminded when Toriel gets into a particularly bad mood that persists all day. You try to cheer her up and shoot her happy smiles, but her sour expression remains. Even Sans asking her “what’s got your goat?” doesn’t make her laugh or even crack a grin. She responds that it's raining, in a tone similar to a doctor pronouncing a patient is dead.

Sans pats her hand soothingly and suggests a movie night to get her mind off of it.

Later, you find out that goats hate water and avoid rain at all costs.

 

The skeleton brothers showed affection in their own ways.

Papyrus would pick you up and carry you around like a favored stuffed animal or hugging you on a whim. He was also a fan of pressing his teeth into the top of your head and saying “SMOOCH!!” in an exaggerated tone. It made you giggle every time with the silliness of it, but, like everything Papyrus does, it was completely sincere.

Honestly, it was a very effective way to give someone a kiss without any lips.

Sans was a little subtler. The first time he did it you didn’t know what in the world he was trying to accomplish, but since then you’ve become more accepting of all monster quirks. Sans was a big fan of bumping his forehead against your shoulder in a gentle headbutt, like an overly friendly cat. It was incredibly lazy and bizarre, but also very Sans. He could show affection without having to even take his hands out of his pockets or having to say anything.

Mentioning that Sans’s behavior reminded you of a cat to Papyrus led to an elaborate conspiracy video “confirming” Sans’s feline nature. Though it was mostly a joke, you had to admit that it had a point. Excessive sleeping, ability to nap anywhere, the headbutting, mostly static facial expression…

Alphys assisted in some of the editing for the video, claiming that she had “much more experience than anyone here photoshopping cat ears onto things.” Undyne volunteered to help as well, but her contributions were getting clips of Sans napping in various locales without him noticing. Your favorite one was a clip of Sans facedown on the sidewalk in the middle of the day, deep asleep. The genuine concern on the faces of the humans around him made you chuckle and feel a little bit of hope for the future.

For his first Christmas above ground, you got Sans a hoodie that read “You have cat to be kitten me right meow.” The hoodie became one of his favorites and the phrase “right meow” infiltrated the entire group’s vernacular. Papyrus was slightly agast the first time it slipped out in his normal speech accidentally, but he conceded that he liked cat puns better than dog puns.

 

They don’t have heartbeats.

It should be obvious. Their physical bodies are made out of magic, so why would they have the same internal organs as you?

You barely notice it on the skeletons. They’re skeletons, where would their hearts even go? And what would it be pumping?

Alphys and Undyne aren’t as big on hugging as your mom or Papyrus, so their lack of a heartbeat is less obvious. You’re normally distracted by the interesting texture of their skin to be too concerned by anything beneath the surface.

Alphys is an interesting combination of scaly and leathery, like a non-monster lizard. She also sweats a great deal, unlike a lizard. Her hands are normally greasy with junk food and constantly busy on a handheld gaming device or tinkering on something that might have once been a gaming device.

Undyne is always a touch damp and is crisscrossed with scars, old and new. Her hands are completely covered in tough callouses. She claims that hug “leave you open for unwanted suplexes,” so you’re more likely to get a fist bump from her than a hug.

The absence of a heartbeat is a little bit more noticeable on other monsters. Toriel is soft and warm and always willing to hug you. Being enveloped in a loving mom hug is one of the most wonderful things you’ve ever experienced. Asgore hugs you, too, but his are much more careful.

(They’re both a little rusty on casual affection, but that’s okay. We’ll teach them.)

It seems a bit off to you that they’re warm and furry like mammals, but they have no pulse at all. Once, Alphys tried to explain to you how monsters work, that the king and queen didn’t really have fur and muscles, but rather their own personal strain of magic formed their bodies in a way that resembled fur and muscles. You had then asked her why some monsters looked very similar to physical creatures. Was it coincidence? Did dog monster come before dogs? Or is the physical appearance of monsters affected by the other creatures?

Alphys had gotten a bit red in the face and eventually stuttered that that was a very good question.

So, no monsters have heartbeats.

What monsters _do_ have is magic thrumming through their forms. Its not a pulse, not really, its much quieter and a more constant sound. You can just barely feel the vibration in their bodies when you touch them. You can only hear the low rumble of magic if you press your ear against them and listen closely.  

The quiet thrum of power feels like home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has any suggestions or prompts, feel free to send me a message. See you next chapter :)


	3. Your Best Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk returns to the Underground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if this chapter counts as fluff? but it was stress relieving on my end, so I hope you guys enjoy it. :)

You stood quietly in the trees, letting the view of the gentle city fill you with determination. In the dusky light, you could see the lights begin to flick off all over town. Say what you want about monsters, but they really did rise and fall with the sun. You were sure there was at least a couple monsters that would be staying up all night, waiting for an emergency text from you.

Just in case.

You weren’t particularly worried, anyways.

SAVE.

You checked your phone absently, making sure the dimensional box you’d prepared was still fine. The mouth of the cave gaped before you. The ground was worn away beneath your feet, even now. You wondered if the grass would ever grow back and cover the still faintly visible footprints from where hundreds of monsters had left the Underground. The line in the ground that was once the Barrier was still as solid as ever.

You stepped into the cave mouth. The air was filled with a faint scent of buttercups and damp stone. Beyond this section of cave was the garden/throne room, and beyond that was Asgore’s empty house. You briefly considered taking a short detour to pay your respects to the fallen humans, but that seemed like something that you should do if you had time later. Just a short walk away, a small shape was hunched over in the darkness.

Flowey didn’t even glance at you as you plopped down on the ground heavily next to him. Your shoulder just barely brushed one of his petals. It flinched away from you involuntarily. The little flower faced the ground.

“Hello, Asriel,” you greeted warmly. The flower flinched bodily away from you as you spoke his name. He finally faced you, his face a grotesque rictus of fangs and rage.

“Asriel’s _dead_.” he growled. You calmly met his gaze.

“Okay. Hello, Flowey.” Flowey sneered at you. “How’s it been?”

Every year, on the anniversary of monsters being free from the underground, there was a huge party and celebration among monsters. Even some humans were getting into it, some out of sympathy with monsters and some out of a deep love for partying. A week after that was the anniversary of the day that you returned to the underground to make sure everyone that wanted to be out was out. That day you had tried to convince Flowey to go to the surface with you. He refused. This was your third time returning underground and trying to convince him.

Flowey didn’t respond for quite a while. You sat there in silence for a couple minutes before saying anything.

“You and I both know that I can and will wait here forever.” Flowey’s face tightened into a frustrated pout.

“I’m just super,” he ground out from between his teeth. “I’ve been very busy planning out exactly how I’m gonna kill you and everyone you love, but luckily you and I both know how easy it is to kill them.”

“That’s nice.”

Flowey grit his teeth.

“Did you tell them? That you’re a murderer? About how you killed them, over and over, for no reason? I can’t see them taking it well.” You shrugged casually.

“Monsters are pretty understanding if you give them half a chance. You should know.” Flowey grimaced but didn’t take the bait and ask how he should know. Drat.

You sit and wait until Flowey stops actively scowling at you. After a couple minutes, he starts ignoring you, facing away from you and not saying anything. You’ve been a diplomat on the surface for almost two years now. Maybe you could use diplomacy? You both had a lot of common ground...

“Mom and Dad really miss you.” Suddenly, there was a vine around your throat, its thorns just barely digging into your skin. Flowey’s face twisted into an inhuman snarl. Your expression remained neutral. You both knew that killing you wouldn’t stop you. Threatening to kill you was pretty weak material.

“They’re not your parents.” he spat. Behind him, more vines grew and twisted, slicing through the ground easily. “They don’t even love you. You’re just a replacement. You’re just someone to pass the time before they move on to someone better.”

“They love you,” you replied calmly. The vine around your neck tightened slightly. Your heartbeat quickened. You focused on your breathing.

Inhale. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Hold. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Exhale. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Inhale. 1. 2-

The vines behind the flower drooped to the ground, their restless energy spent. The one around your neck dropped off completely. You reached up to feel your throat and were pleased to find no blood or scrape at all.

You briefly considered teasing Flowey about going soft, but decided not to press your advantage. He was watching you quietly, with tired eyes. You wondered whether he got energy from photosynthesis or eating food. You wondered when was the last time he had gotten either.

You reached into your pocket and pulled out your phone, quickly scrolling to your items. You quickly pulled out a portable gaming system, two controllers, a laptop, some silly board games, and a plastic food container. Flowey looked away from you, disinterested.

“You ready to play some games, or are you gonna be a butt some more?”

Flowey was silent for a moment before sighing exaggeratedly. He tilted a pair of leaves on his stem upwards in a gesture similar to a shrug. You felt a smile grow on your face.

“Would you take ‘no thank, leave me here to suffer’ as an answer?”

You reached over and picked up the portable console, holding out for him to see. The box looked deceptively simple, but due to some creative tinkering by Alphys it could run almost any game you could want. A screen was attached to the top of the console. The controller you had brought for Flowey was custom made to be much more responsive to smaller motions. Despite what his earlier show of strength would lead one to believe, moving vines and leaves around used up energy he just did have to spare.

“Of course I wouldn’t! Afterall, who wouldn’t want to play some games with their best friend?”

Flowey snorted and held out a leaf. His leaves had almost as much dexterity as a particularly clumsy hand. You passed the controller to him willingly. He flicked it on expertly with the tip of one leaf and started hitting buttons. He scrolled through the options that were preloaded on the system until he found a particularly violent shooter and selected it.

“Don’t hold your breath. We’re acquaintances at best. My best friend is dead,” he said offhandedly.

You shrugged, unperturbed. “I’ve never let someone trying to kill me keep me from being friends with them before, so why start now?”

Flowey snorted again, not looking up from his game. “You’re unbelievable.”

You scooted in closer, leaning into the flower and watching the screen. “Says the talking flower.”

 

You spent hours sitting in that cave with Flowey. You started on the game console, slowly working from the violent shooters that he preferred to the peaceful puzzle games that you adored to the silly racing games that you both got way too into. Flowey loosened up considerably as you both played, letting you get closer without flinching away and allowing you to help him when he got stuck on a difficult section.

It was… kinda nice. He was an asshole, but so was everyone else on the surface. At least with Flowey you could be an ass back. No diplomatic neutral answers, no mincing around subjects, just you and an old friend calling each other every rude name we could think of over a round of Mario Kart.

Sometimes, he would smile or laugh or react and you would be reminded of Asriel. The determination to save Asriel, to bring him back, to bring him to the surface, to his family…

But then Flowey would sneer and call you an idiot and play a dirty trick in whatever game you were playing and you remembered. You’d RESET so many times trying to save Asriel, lost so many happy endings, trying to save him…

Asriel was gone. He’d been dead a long time. There was only Flowey now.

But Flowey was worth saving.

Everyone deserved a second chance.

Even if they kept messing you up in Portal 2’s co-op mode.

 

“Snakes and Ladders isn’t even a _game_ ,” whines Flowey hours later. You had moved from video games to physical ones and you got first pick. You roll your eye so hard at him that it hurts a little. How many times could you two have this argument before he would admit that you’re right?

“Snakes and Ladders is very important and very fun.” You reached out and snatched up a loose game piece and held it aloft. “Also I get to be the Monopoly shoe.”

“It's not a game! You can’t _do_ anything, it's just rolling the die and moving however far it says. There’s no choice. It’s just watching a random number generator. And Monopoly shoe is the worst one, so there’s no reason for you to feel the need to ‘call it’ every time we play. Hand me the rook.” You passed a white rook from a nearby chess set into his waiting leaf.

The board spread out before you, with the scuffed metal shoe and the plastic rook standing shoulder to shoulder. You rolled the die and moved your shoe. Flowey scooped up the die with a leaf before you could pick it up.

“That’s a fair point. Bu~ut…” you drug out the syllable as Flowey rolled. Despite his dislike of the game, he seemed genuinely pleased as he hit a ladder immediately. “That’s not why we play it.”

“You’re right,” said Flowey, a sickly sweet smile spreading over his face. His voice was filled with condescending false cheer. “We play it because you are a tyrannical warden of my suffering with a bad taste in games.”

You giggled. Flowey’s smile fell back into a sneer. You grabbed the die and rolled again. As you spoke, you made grand gestures with your hands. _Maybe_ you’ve been picking up some habits from your more grandiose friends.

“We play it, because Snakes and Ladders has been played throughout the ages as a tool for teaching philosophy and morality. The biggest lesson that it teaches us is to accept our fates. There’s no changing the roll of the die. There’s no right or wrong decisions to make. There’s just two buddies playing a game. We both need to learn how to accept our fates better, don’t you think?”

“I think you’re a piece of shit.”

“I love you, too. Your turn.”

 

Hours later, you switched from board games to watching movies on the game console. You were sprawled out on the ground and Flowey was just as relaxed as someone without a body could look.

“This movie is shit,” remarked Flowey.

“That’s mean.” You tried to think of good things to say about the film. “At least this one has a plot?”

“Are you sure?” he asked incredulously. “All of the characters are Mettaton. He’s not even doing voices! There’s really no hard evidence that this isn’t just a terrible monologue with random costume changes.”

You grunted in affirmation. Mettaton was a hit on the surface, but his older works were considered infamously bad to humans. Apparently on the surface a movie couldn’t just be an extended shot of a single actor being bathed in rose petals? The movie that you were watching with Flowey was one of the first movie Mettaton made after reaching the surface. Still pretty bad, but at least there was an attempt to appeal to an audience that had other options.

“He’s a nice guy though. Alphys built his body. Did you know that? Pretty cool. He was originally a ghost.”

Flowey grunted.

“Alphys could build you a body, you know.” Flowey began slowly turning his face to you, his face slowly morphing into one of disgust and surprise. “If you wanted one, I mean! That way you wouldn’t have to be a flower anymore.”

“You want me, the atrocity that has literally killed everyone and everything just for fun, to have a robot body? Are you fucking insane?” You threw up your hands in a defensive shrug.

“I dunno, I just thought that you might like being able to walk or whatever. You’re always complaining about being a flower, I just thought…” Flowey turned away from you with a frustrated expression.

“You really are an idiot.”

You sat quietly and continued watching the movie. It really was bad.

By the time the credits rolled around, neither of you had said a word to each other. You let out a breathy sigh. Flowey didn’t even look at you. On screen, the credits were over, and the screen showed a menu.

“Papyrus really misses you.”

“Then he’s an idiot, too.” said Flowey evenly. He hesitated for a moment, almost sounding torn. “He knows that I was using him, right? That I manipulated him in order to get everyone in one spot so I could steal all the souls? That I wasn’t really his friend?” You nodded.

“Yeah, he knows. He knows that you were just playing him, but…” You made an ambigous gesture. “You were nice to him and he thought you were his friend for a while. That’s more than enough for him to like you. Papyrus doesn’t give up on people, especially his friends.”

Flowey gave you a weak sneer. “He believed in you, even when you murdered him for no reason.”

“And he believes in you, even when you lied to him in order to use him as a means to an awful end. Please… come to the surface with me. Even if you don’t want to tell them who you really were or all that you’ve done… please. You don’t have to be alone.”

Flowet stiffened. His face was crunched in anger.

“You don’t understand-”

“No.” you said determinedly. You needed to be firm. He had to know that you were serious. “I do understand.”

“Frisk-” Flowey tried to interrupt, but you continued on.

“You think you’re broken and alone and no one will ever understand you. You believe, with all your endless willpower, that you won’t be forgiven, because you don’t believe that you deserve to be forgiven. I know. I’ve been there. And I won’t lie to you. I won’t tell you that this would be easy. I won’t try to convince you that you’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve done some shitty things. I just need you to believe that you’re worth saving, that there’s at least a little part of you still left, the part that saw an injured, fallen human cry out and took them home and treated them like a sibling. I want you to believe that even if that part is gone, even if Asriel is really dead, even if you have no hope of redemption or love or kindness, that you are _still worth saving_. Asriel is worth saving. Flowey is worth saving. Whoever you are or whoever you become is worth saving. You’ve done terrible things. We both know this. But that doesn’t mean you have to suffer through however much time you have, punishing yourself for the things you’ve done. Please, just… consider it?”

You hold out your hand, begging for him to take it and let you help him. Or at least allow himself to be helped.

There’s a pause, a lingering tension in the air. Flowey droops, leaning away from you and not looking you in the eye.

“Frisk… don’t you have anything better to do?”

And that was that.

You hide the disappointment in your eyes and try to forget the flowerpot in your dimensional box. There was always next year.

You bid Flowey farewell, giving him a gentle kiss on an upper petal, and start gathering your stuff back into your phone. You leave the plastic container of pie and the game console. The batteries wouldn’t last forever, but it would give him something to take his mind off of everything, at least for a little while.

And maybe a taste of Mom’s pie will remind him that someone loves him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The alternate title of this chapter is "Flowey Know That Snakes and Ladders is Bullshit," but it kinda messed with the pacing of the reveal of who Frisk is visiting.  
> Shout out to my brother who had to deal with me ranting about Snakes and Ladders for several days. If you're interested in more Snakes and Ladders Discussion, [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzLYKY1nPsY) might interest you.  
> If anyone has any requests or suggestions, feel free to send them my way.


	4. Roommate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're back to our regularly fluff! This one features Papyrus.

Papyrus was very happy today.

Of course, most days he was pretty happy (how could he not be? He was the GREAT PAPYRUS and he was ON THE SURFACE and he has so many friends and he’s popular online and everything is great) but today was especially great. He had spent all day cooking with Undyne. They was learning how to make all sorts of pasta! Humans had such amazing new types of noodles and they were learning them. And they were really good at it! And they even got Alphys to join in to help with some pot stirring!

The training session was over now, and he was walking home. Undyne and Alphys lived out on the other side of town, nearer the science place where Alphys worked and the police station where Undyne was currently applying. (“I”M GONNA SUPLEX CRIME!!”) They had a nice house, with a guest room that was very nice, and though it was late, he had politely declined the chance of a sleepover.

Papyrus walked down the city streets, the streetlights slowly flickering on as he strode on long legs. Not many people were out and about at this time of night, but those that were didn’t stare. This city, the closest city to Mount Ebott, had the highest concentration of monsters anywhere. A skeleton in a cape was simply becoming a normal sight for the humans around here.

He wanted to go to his home. His surface home. His home, on the surface, where he could see the sky _all the time_ and there were so many _people_ everywhere and-

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a quiet noise. It sounded like a very small, very sad Temmie. Or maybe a very meow-y small dog? Do dogs meow?

Papyrus looked down at his feet. Yes, his boots were still very nice. A few feet away, a very (bendy dog?) fluffy cat was emerging from a nearby alleyway. It had long cream and red swirled fur and, to Papyrus, a very kind face. It was staring him straight in the face and gave him a very slow blink.

Papyrus crouched down, looking at the cat. He gave a slow blink back and reached out his hand.

“HELLO, FRIEND,” he announced at a volume slightly above an indoor voice for him. The cat, to its credit, didn’t flinch at the shouting at all, and slunk forward to push its head against Papyrus’s gloved hand. Even at arms length, he could hear the little thing purring.

Gaining confidence, Papyrus shuffled closer and stroked down the cat’s back. Its purrs ramped up and it stepped even closer, leaning forward to bump its head against Papyrus’s tibia.

“WOULD YOU MIND IF I TOOK A PICTURE OF YOU? YOU ARE VERY CUTE AND MY MANY ONLINE FRIENDS WOULD SURELY ENJOY SEEING YOU, MY NEW PAL.” The cat’s purring increased slightly. Papyrus took out his phone and quickly took a picture, uploading it instantly with the caption “LOOK AT MY NEW PAL!!!!! :D :D B)” He put away his phone and stroked the cat some more.

After a couple more seconds of petting, Papyrus gave the cat one final pat on the head and stood up.

“YOU ARE VERY NICE, BUT I HAVE TO GET GOING. IF I’M NOT THERE TO FEED HIM, MY COOL BROTHER WILL SURELY WASTE AWAY. I’M NOT SURE IF YOU HAVE ANY FAMILY…” He paused to see if the cat would respond. It simply rubbed against his legs. “...BUT GENERALLY YOU WANT LOOK AFTER THEM. SPEAKING OF FAMILY, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GO BACK TO YOURS?”

The cat purred and wound its way around his legs.

“I HAVE TO GO. IT WAS NICE MEETING YOU.” With that, Papyrus quickly swung into motion again, stepping away from the friendly cat and getting back into his ground-eating gait.

It was only a few minutes away from his home. He and Sans lived in a 2 bedroom apartment only a little ways away from Toriel and Frisk’s place. Their apartment building was very nice and was populated by an almost even mix of monsters and humans. The landlady, Julianne, a chubby woman in her late forties, was one of the earliest openly monster accepting entrepreneurs on this side of town. (Apparently, once, in passing, to Sans, while slightly intoxicated, she had half-jokingly said that she preferred monster tenants and would “replace most of her human occupants with families of Moldsmal” if she could.)

As the skeleton walked and thought, he completely missed the gentle patter of paws trotting after him.

Papyrus knew that he could mostly likely find Sans hanging out with her on days where he himself was out of the apartment. His brother and the landlady were best friends and they enjoyed swapping jokes and stories and watching her large collection of scifi movies and television series. Sans was very popular underground, and now he was very popular above it, too. Papyrus was very happy for him and not at all jealous of how many human friends he had. (Papyrus had many more friends online than Sans, but, as the magnanimous and considerate brother that he was was, he only brought that fact up three to five times a week.)

Very soon, Papyrus was at the apartment. Okay, first, stop by the landlady’s apartment and collect Sans, then up to the third floor, and then warm up some spaghetti from the fridge and then-

A very quiet yet familiar noise broke his train of thought.

Papyrus turned around and looked down. Right behind him, the cat stood, purring. It blinked calmly at the skeleton. Papyrus nodded decisively.

“OH! I GET IT.”  He reached down and picked up the cat, cradling it to his sweater covered ribs. In a move that seemed wildly out of character, the cat purred loudly and rubbed its face against any bit of Pap that it could reach. “I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU ARE HERE, CAT FRIEND. IT IS VERY OBVIOUS, ESPECIALLY FOR A SMART SKELETON LIKE MYSELF. YOU LIVE IN THIS APARTMENT TOO! OBVIOUSLY, AS THIS IS THE BEST RESIDENCE IN THE CITY. I AM SORRY THAT I DID NOT KNOW WE WERE GOING TO THE SAME PLACE, OR I WOULD HAVE INVITED YOU TO WALK WITH ME.”

The cat purred.

“I DO NOT KNOW WHICH APARTMENT IS YOURS, AS I HAVE NOT SEEN YOU AROUND BEFORE, SO I WILL JUST HAVE TO ASK JULIANNE. THEN I WILL DROP YOU OFF. YOUR LITTLE PAWS MUST BE TIRED FROM WALKING AROUND ALL DAY WITHOUT ANY SHOES.”

Papyrus laughed joyfully and pushed open the apartment buildings doors. Walking quickly, he made his way to the landlady’s apartment door. Shuffling the blithe cat to one arm, he knocked decisively on the door.

“Come in! Its open,” was the slightly muffled response of the landlady from inside. Papyrus pushed open the door gently and entered. He carefully wiped his feet on the mat and passed through the smallish apartment, looking for his brother and the landlady. Predictably, he found Sans passed out face down on Julianne’s couch, with the woman herself smirking at a book in a nearby armchair. A DVD case was sitting open on the coffee table.

Papyrus gave Julianne a broad smile. “HELLO, HUMAN! I HAVE COME TO RETRIEVE MY LAZY BROTHER.”

Julianne looked up from her book, still smiling. She quirked an eyebrow at the cat curled laxly on the skeleton’s arm, but didn’t comment. “Hello, Papyrus. Have a nice time with your friends? No fires this time?”

“ONLY THE SMALLEST AND MOST UNAVOIDABLE OF PASTA FIRES TODAY. THEY ADD FLAVOR.”

Julianne threw her head back in a full throated laugh. Sans didn’t even stir at the noise. Once she had regained her breath, she gestured at the purring lump. “And who’s your little buddy?”

Papyrus looked down at the red and cream tabby. It still purring like a motor. “OH THIS IS MY FRIEND. I MET THEM TODAY. THEY WERE OUTSIDE THE DOOR, SO  I THINK THEY LIVE IN THIS BUILDING? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEIR APARTMENT NUMBER IS? I WOULD LIKE TO DROP THEM OFF BEFORE I GET DINNER GOING.”

Julianne’s one eyebrow shot up even more. She stood up and walked over to the skeleton, holding her arms open. Understanding her gesture, he carefully placed the cat into her arms. The landlady stroked the cat a few times before speaking,

“I don’t think this cat lives here. In fact, I don’t think she lives anywhere at all. No collar. You said you found her outside? And look how skinny she is, and how ragged her fur is. She’s half skeleton herself. You can feel her ribs and spine, even through all this fur. She’s a stray.” Papyrus made a confused face. “She doesn’t have a home. She lives on the street.” She held the cat up to her face. “Look at her, she such a sweet little old homeless lady.”

The cat purred strongly and sniffed Julianne’s nose.

Looking closer, and in the light of the apartment, the cat did look a little run down. Her fur was dirty, her bones stuck out visibly in a way that clearly wasn’t healthy for non-skeletons, and her right ear looked like it had been roughed up and chewed on. She seemed pleased with all the attention, and was attempting to rub her face on Julianne’s.

“OH NO! I THOUGHT…” Papyrus held out his hands and the cat was given back. He stroked her fur pensively. “SHE’S SO NICE! LIVING ON THE STREET… THAT DOESN’T SOUND FUN.”

Julianne smirked. “She is very nice. I bet Sans would like her.”

Papyrus looked over at his unconscious brother and let out a whine. The cat purred under his anxious petting.

“IT’S SO COLD OUT. I HEARD IT MIGHT SNOW AGAIN SOON? MAYBE SHE CAN SLEEP OVER? JUST FOR TONIGHT? SANS WOULDN’T MIND, ESPECIALLY FOR SUCH A NICE FRIEND.”

Julianne smiled broadly, trying not to let any giggles escape.

“You know, the apartment has a very lenient policy on pets. We allow anything under 120 pounds. Anything over that is a roommate and can pay their own rent. Ha!”

Papyrus nodded seriously. Julianne chuckled. He gestured broadly at his brother.

“I WILL COLLECT MY BROTHER NOW. HE’S BEEN IN YOUR HAIR FOR FAR TOO LONG.”

“Oh it’s no trouble. We share a deep emotional connection to bad scifi.”

Papyrus nodded. He didn’t quite understand his brother and the landlady’s friendship, but it made them both happy and got his brother out of his room, so he was in full support of it.

He shuffled the happy cat to one arm and walked to the couch. His brother was still face down on the couch, snoring gently. With precision and grace, Papyrus leaned down and scooped up his brother in one arm. He definitely did not almost immediately drop him. Definitely.

With his arms full of purring cat and snoring brother, Papyrus turned to the door.

“I’ll get that for you, dear, just give me a moment. Oh, and by the way, don’t feed the cat any pasta. They can’t eat it,” said Julianne, moving to the door and opening it wide. Papyrus gave his thanks for her help and left the apartment. The three flights of steps were fun with his hands full, but eventually Papyrus and crew arrived at the door to their apartment.

The term ‘stray,’ ‘roommate,’ ‘homeless,’ and ‘half skeleton’ chased themselves around Papyrus’s mind. In one arm, Sans was completely asleep, and in the other, the cat was half curled. This made opening the door an ordeal, but Papyrus was a strong and clever skeleton, so he eventually figured out a way to free his hands enough to open the door to their apartment. (He ended up just setting Sans on the ground and setting the cat on top of him while he was unlocking the door. Sans was still deep asleep on the ground and the cat sniffed gingerly at his hoodie. A great start to a promising new friendship!)

Papyrus entered the apartment with his hands full of brother and cat. The front room, a living room, was extraordinarily clean. The same old couch from underground was facing their old television. They had an extra large bean bag chair, which Sans had bought while loudly proclaiming how impressed he was at human ingenuity. (The store clerk had been slightly perturbed at the time, not quite sure if the skeleton was making fun of him.) There was also a small table and a large shelf full of books, DVDs, and knicknacks.

Papyrus gently set the cat down on the couch.

“MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME! I WILL BE BACK SOON, SO FEEL FREE TO READ A BOOK OR WATCH SOME TV.”

She meowed softly at him as he walked away before curling up on the worn cushion.

With his brother still asleep in his arms, he walked over to the kitchen and propped Sans up at the table. He made his way to the fridge, pulling out a container of leftover spaghetti and sticking it in the microwave. Despite his worry that he wasn’t being a good host to his guest, Sans still needed to eat. He began to address the unconscious Sans.

“SO I MADE A NEW FRIEND TODAY. SHE IS VERY NICE AND SOFT AND SHE SOUNDS LIKE A TINY RACECAR. SHE DOESN’T HAVE ANYWHERE TO GO, SO I INVITED HER TO SLEEP OVER TONIGHT. I’M WORRIED ABOUT HER, THOUGH. SHE IS VERY SMALL, EVEN SHORTER THAN YOU!”

The microwave beeped. Papyrus opened it, stirred the spaghetti, and stuck it back in. As he turned back to the table, he saw that the skinny cat had slunk into the kitchen and was rubbing against Sans’s legs.

Sans, with unfocused eye lights, was slowly waking up. He gazed silently at the cat in confusion for a minute before looking up at Papyrus.

“um.”

Papyrus lit up.

“LOOK, YOU GUYS ARE ALREADY FRIENDS!! SANS THIS IS MY NEW BUDDY. JULIANNE SAYS SHE IS SWEET.”

Sans reached down, extending his hand to the fluffy tabby. She sniffed him gingerly before licking his phalanges gently. Papyrus quickly whipped out his phone and took a quick photo. Too cute!

“huh. she, uh, sure is something.” The cat’s purrs ramped up. Sans’s smile took a turn toward shit eating. Papyrus braced for (pun) impact. “she’s the best cat i’ve ever seen. she’s so _tail_ ented. _purrh_ aps she can tell me how she got to be so _paw_ some.” Sans reached out and stroked down the cat’s back. “wow, she looks a _lot_ fluffier than she actually is.”

“SHE’S JUST FLUFF AND BONES,” Papyrus agreed.

“so who’s cat is this? they really need to feed her more.” Sans leaned down and picked up the cat, cuddling her close to his ribs. She was ecstatic and purred loud enough to rattle his bone a little. “aw, she is sweet. good kitty.”

“I DON’T THINK ANYONE IS FEEDING HER? JULIANNE SAID SHE WAS HOMELESS.” The microwave beeped, and Papyrus pulled out the container of spaghetti, quickly plating two servings. He slid Sans his plate and sat down at the table with his own.“SHE ALSO SAID THAT CATS DON’T EAT SPAGHETTI. WEIRD, RIGHT?”

Sans gave a little chuckle and set the cat on the floor. She gave him another friendly meow and walked under the table to sit between Papyrus’s feet.

“super weird, bro. what are we gonna do with her?”

Papyrus didn’t say anything for a long couple minutes, his eyes darting around in thought. Sans let him think and quietly ate his spaghetti. Kinda chewy, but the sauce was really good. The tabby leaned against Papyrus’s legs, still purring quietly.

“WELL… SHE DOESN’T HAVE ANYWHERE ELSE TO GO, SO I WAS THINKING… MAYBE SHE COULD STAY WITH US? I COULD TAKE CARE OF HER! AND THEN SHE WOULDN’T HAVE TO LIVE ON THE STREET! ISN’T THAT A GOOD IDEA?”

Sans gave a small chuckle.

“she _fur_ tunate that she came across you, huh? i could be _purr_ suaded to let her stay with us. i think she would be the cat’s meow.” The cat meowed softly. “shit she is cute.”

 

A day later, you receive a text from Sans. You had been busy with ambassador duties, so you hadn’t been online much recently. When you were, you saw a glimpse into an avalanche of cat related posts, videos, and discussion from Papyrus. You hoped you would have a sizeable break soon so that you could go over and meet the cat.

**sans:** pap is a mom now lol

**sans:** he wont let me name her

**sans:** impact is a gr8 name 4 cat

**you:** Isn’t Impact the meme font?? sans no

And an hour later:

**sans:** he named her vivaldi

**sans:** is it paws-ible for a cat to purr 2 much? asking fur a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, the three stages of cat ownership:  
> -whose cat is this?  
> -i'll just look after them until i find a shelter or an owner  
> -this is the greatest cat ever and they are my little princess/prince/royalty.


End file.
